Page 17 of No One But You
“It would be best for you to be under a doctor’s care,” he continued, acting as if his face wasn’t rapidly becoming the color of a tomato.What was with that?“I live closer to the clinic, so you could come to work with me tomorrow if you don’t want to be on your own during the day.”
Summer deflated.“That’s a good point.You could come to the veterinary clinic with me, but we don’t have anywhere this comfortable for you to rest.”
My insides became squirmy.I didn’t like the fact they both thought I needed twenty-four-hour care, but they were also kind of right.The fact that I’d almost melted down when Max tried to leave earlier proved that.
Also, Max had invited me to his house!
I’d be a fool to turn down that invitation, and despite the good shaking my brain had experienced, I was no fool.
“I’ll stay with Max,” I said, trying not to sound too eager.
Summer smirked at me knowingly.“Max, can we have a moment to ourselves, please?”
Max frowned.“If you need.I’ll be in my office.”
He left but cast a glance over his shoulder, his brows furrowed again.Summer waited until the door was closed before speaking.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”she asked, keeping her voice soft so that no one could overhear us.
“Stay alone with Max, just the two of us?Uh, yeah.”
As if I’d ever pass that opportunity up.
She looked down at her hands.“Just be careful, okay?Max is a natural caretaker, so don’t read too much into his behavior."
My stomach sank.Of course.His insistence that I stay with him was just because of his need to take care of people, especially the ones who were within the wider circle of his family.
She sighed.“I’m sorry.I didn’t say that to discourage you.We’ll have the bed ready if you change your mind.”
I appreciated that, but I knew I wouldn’t, and I suspected she did too.I’d never get another chance like this to spend so much time with Max.I had to take advantage of it for as long as he was willing to keep me around.
TEN
MAX
I wheeled Bailey through the front door, since it was the wheelchair-accessible exit, and wondered what possessed me to insist that she come home with me when I knew she’d be fine with Asher and Summer.
For all my argument that being a doctor made me the best positioned to care for her, Asher would have done well enough with his paramedic training.Bailey might not realize that, but I suspected that Summer did, which meant that I’d be facing an inquisition at some point.Hopefully she just thought I was being overly concerned about a patient.
“I could have walked,” Bailey said as I locked the door behind us.
“Short distances are fine, but we don’t want to overtax you before you’re ready,” I replied as I wheeled her down the ramp to my waiting minivan.I pressed the fob to unlock the van and opened the passenger door.“Put your arms around my neck.”
“Max, I can—” She cut off mid-protest when I lifted her out of the wheelchair and onto the passenger seat.
I smirked to myself but kept my face angled away so she wouldn’t see it.While I wasn’t as strong as most of my siblings, I was used to lifting people, and I was no slouch.
“Um, you made that seem easy,” she said, wide-eyed as she fumbled with the seatbelt.
I shrugged.“You’re not that heavy.”Compared to some of my patients, she was a featherweight.“Are you okay?”
Her expression turned thoughtful as she evaluated herself.“Yeah.I don’t think the painkillers have worn off fully yet.”
“Good.We’ll give you some more soon.You’ll need them for the next few days at least.”
I maneuvered the wheelchair into the back.She probably wouldn’t need it after tonight, but it would be best to have it just in case.
I drove to her cottage and parked out the front.To my relief, Bailey didn’t argue about the wheelchair or about me lifting her into it.Instead, she just wrapped her arms around me, looked up at me with big, trusting eyes, and let me move her around as necessary.
